Monthly

Achievement Report
JalovaWildlife Conservation Expedition
April 2015
Leatherback Season
Summary
In partnership with the Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC), Global Vision International (GVI)is helping to
conserve marine turtles in Tortuguero National Park (TNP), during sea turtle nesting season. Staff
and volunteers participate in Night Patrols and Nest Checks and keep a record of the encounters as
well as recording the fate of the nest and hatching success rate for eggs.
Report
GVI conducts research on marine turtles that nest in the southern end of Tortuguero National Park.
The research takes places in two stages, night patrols and daily nest checks in 3.5 miles of beach
starting at Jalova river mouth, and going north along the beach to mile 14 1/2. GVI volunteers and
staff walk this stretch of beach multiple times every evening and also every morning to monitor the
nesting and hatching process.
Tortuguero National Park is a nesting area for leatherback turtles, and IUCN endangered species,
from approximately March June each year. Occasionally hawksbill and loggerhead turtles are also
encountered laying eggs on this beach. GVI volunteers have had the opportunity to observe and
study many of these giant and beautiful animals during the current leatherback season.
Different from other marine turtle species, leatherback turtles do not have a hard carapace (often
commonly called the shell); instead, they have a mosaic of small bones covered by thick skin. Their
size varies from 130cm to 183cm, however the largest ever recorded was over 3mts!Their weight
can range from 300kg to 500kg. The incubation period of a leatherback turtle is around 65 days, and
you can find approximately 80 eggs per nest. As leatherbacks are the largest of the sea turtles, and
one of the most endangered, patrolling their nesting beaches tag, measure & monitor (called
working a turtle) leatherbacks and their nests is an important research activity to be able to record
presence and the history of leatherbacks. All data collected by GVI and our volunteers goes to our
partner organization, STC, to be compiled with their data and produce reports for the national park,
the Costa Rica Ministry of Environment, the scientific community and the general public, on the
state of turtles and nesting in Tortuguero, and to contribute to the worldwide body of knowledge on
marine turtles and nesting.
Night Patrols at Jalova are conducted from 8pm to 1am. Our objective is to collect data on sea
turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. As part of the protocol designed by our partners at the STC, turtles
are tagged for individual identification, and biometric data such as carapace length is recorded. Our
volunteer research assistants work alongside GVI staff to collect this information throughout each
night.

For the first period of 2015 leatherback season, from the 2th of April to the 13th of May, GVI has
worked 37 leatherback turtles, and marked 19 leatherbacks nests, as well as 1 hawsksbill nest.
marked and worked from the period. That means that so far this year, GVI has worked and marked
more leatherback sea turtles than last years total count for the season. Also in 2015, GVI has done a
marathon night patrol covering from Jalova to Tortuguero Town, 15 miles total, walking the beach in
a 7hr walk from south to north to work any sea turtles that may nest in that stretch of beach in
Tortuguero National Park. After every one of these night patrols, a nest check patrol went out the
following morning, to oversee the state of all the nest that have been marked during the season, and
that are being monitor to determinate the stage and conditions of the nests. All this data gives us
information on the survival rates of the nests and the hatchlings, and also gives us a better
understanding overall of our beach and our turtles.
Alejandra Carvallo, Turtle Project Leader